Overview

The procurement and acquisition specialist is a temporary, grant-funded position that will be responsible for executing on procurements and acquisitions to ensure that the Office operates in a compliant manner and is able to achieve organizational efficiency and operational excellence. Working across teams, the procurement and acquisition specialist will be essential to enabling the Office of Innovation to deliver impact, at scale, to residents, businesses, and institutions across the Garden State.

We are seeking candidates with at least 7 years of experience working collaboratively to ensure sustainable, streamlined, and compliant procurement operations. This role will initially focus on executing end-to-end processes associated with the compliant procurement and retention of agile services vendors. The scope of the role may be expanded to include additional purchasing and procurement processes over time. You should be able to solve problems pragmatically, and have demonstrated experience developing, implementing, and administering strategies and controls for purchasing and procurement within the public-sector or within a government-funded organization.

Reporting to the Chief of Staff, this role will work closely with OOI’s finance director, initiative leads, and other team members across the office. Responsibilities may include:

Purchasing and Procurement

  • Procurement development and operations: collaborate with the leadership team to develop purchasing and procurement plans.
  • Accounting operations:collaborate with the Chief of Staff and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that prompt payment of external parties is executed in a compliant manner.
  • Contracting: manage the generation and execution of contracts with selected service providers.
  • Reporting: prepare and coordinate internal and external statements and reports.
  • Processes and procedures: work with the leadership team to develop, manage, and administer processes and procedures to ensure procurement and purchasing compliance; ensure that proper staff training mechanisms are in place so that members are prepared to follow relevant processes and procedures.

Organizational Compliance

  • Procurement compliance: maintain an understanding of and advise on the compliance of all organizational requirements affecting purchasing and procurement.
  • Expenditure compliance: ensure all organizational expenditures are in-line with legal and contractual requirements.
  • Processes and procedures:work with the leadership team to develop, refine, manage, and administer processes to ensure organizational policies and processes are followed.

Organizational stakeholder engagement

  • Stakeholder management: coordinate with office leadership to ensure that internal and external organizational stakeholders are appropriately informed and kept up-to-date on relevant activities.

Do what’s needed for the team

  • Execute additional duties and responsibilities to advance the Office of Innovation’s mission and work.

Experience, Skills, and Abilities

  • 7+ years of purchasing and procurement experience with at least some of those years in the public-sector or within a government-funded organization.
  • Applied experience managing agile development service procurements and contracts.
  • Demonstrated ability to be a self-starter, evidenced by a track record of independently developing, implementing, and executing on strategic plans.
  • Demonstrated experience operating in environments with complex compliance requirements, and the ability to problem solve in a rapidly growing organization.
  • Experience balancing the ability to think strategically at the organization-wide level, while also implementing key operational and executional tasks.
  • Paramount attention to detail and ability to execute key tasks with zero room for error.
  • Familiarity with grants management including contracting, reporting and closeout, is preferred.

We welcome applicants from a broad range of backgrounds. If you believe that you would excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. If you have any questions, please contact heather@innovation.nj.gov.

Compensation: Up to approximately $144,813 commensurate with experience. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, paid leave, and competitive retirement plan options, as well as other optional fringe benefits.

The New Jersey Office of Innovation is proud to be an equal opportunity employer

We are deeply committed to the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusiveness and seek to create a pluralistic community for all. We strongly encourage people of color, members of racial and ethnic minority groups, women, LGBTQI+ people, those with disabilities, and Veterans to apply. We are committed to building a team that is reflective of New Jersey’s incredible diversity.

We do not discriminate against any candidate because of color, race, age, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, membership in an employee organization, pregnancy, marital status, status as a parent, ancestry, national origin, disability (physical or mental), family medical history or genetic information, political affiliation, military service, retaliation, or other non-merit based factors.

Eligibility

You must be authorized to work in the United States. Candidates may be required to pass a background check and complete additional steps as part of the application and onboarding process. You will be considered an “at-will” employee, meaning both employer and employee have the right to terminate employment with or without cause or notice.

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